Broken Crayons
by Zimithrus1
Summary: He wasn't born normal. He wouldn't be able to do anything they said. There were only a small handful of people that acually believed that Cloud would be able to overcome what everyone said. It took him a few years, but he learned to walk, and somewhat talk, thanks to his older brother Zack, and his mother as well. But Cloud wasn't as helpless as they thought. You see, he...
1. Prolouge

*bangs head against wall repeatidly* I just can't stop can I? Sonofa-*Ahem!* Anyhow, yes, another new story! XD Oh A.D.D, thank you sooo much! I'm being sarcastic, but anyway, you clicked on this because you want to check it out at least, so I'll stop rambling up here, and get on with the story ^0^ Oh, and since this is all just a big flashback, it will be in all Italise, especially since for this chapter, it's in first person point of view.

~X[Prolouge]X~

_It's strange really. I can remember that day as if it was yesterday, even though it was a few months ago already. I remember that Dad was freaking out when Mom went into early labor with my little brother. I even remember the clothes everyone was wearing. Even the way my hair was styled that day; A mess as usual. I had been dressed in a plain grey shirt, and black cargo shorts. Dad was wearing dark grey baggy pants with an off-white shirt. Mom was just in a simple dress. Long and flowy. _

_I remember she said she had been having a lot of pains recently and that they should get it checked out soon. But when they did check her, and my little brother. They couldn't find anything wrong with either of them. But as I was saying, the whole house was in an uproar except for me. I was playing with some toys in my room at the time. Mom's doctor walked in through the front door briskly. Dad followed behind. Of course, I began to tail behind into the master bedroom where everyone else was, but Dad shooed me out and said_

'children shouldn't be in this room right now.'

_I was sad and tried to throw a fit, but he told me that now was not the time for that, and shut the door after I was ushered out of the room. I thought they were all just trying to hog my little brother so I couldn't see him. At the time, I didn't understand why everyone else was so freaked out. But later I learned that my brother wasn't supposed to be born when he was. So, I just hung out in the hallway, playing with one of my favorite stuffed animals, a little black panther plush. After what seemed like years, which were only a few hours, I heard more clamor from the room. Shouts as well._

_Curiosity got the best of me and I quietly cracked the door open. Mom was crying, and Dad was by her side. I shifted my view over to Mom's doctor, to see that he was trying to get my little brother to breathe, because he wasn't. My brows had furrowed out of confusion at what he was exactly hooking the baby up to. So, I just strolled right in._

'Is little brother okay?'_ I had asked._

_I didn't get a responce, but Mom made me come and lay beside her. I obeyed and she held me tight._

'Mommy, is he okay?'_ I had asked again._

_She told me that little brother wasn't breathing and he might not start to either. My face fell slightly, and I broke from her grip. Despite my Dad's shouting at me to get back here, I casually strolled up to where Mom's doctor was hooking my little brother up to a weird machine. So, I just tapped on my little brothers hand. I told him that it was time to get up. Mom just cried even harder after I had said that. I added in that he couldn't sleep forever._

'Wake up sleepyhead, get your head out of the clouds.'

_Right after I said that, he coughed and quietly whimpered. Then I turned around to look at my mother._

I told her, 'See? He was just sleeping.'

_She then wiped her eyes and stopped crying. Later on, when most of the commotion had died down, Mom's doctor told her about my little brother, I knew the news wasn't good. He said_

'Those pains you've been feeling lately, was him basicly crying out for air, because he had somehow started to suffocate. The lack of oxygen to his brain caused something to go wrong with his mental develpoment. Since it had been happening for a long time, I can guestimate that his mental state will not go past the age of a one year old.' Mom and Dad were so sad when they heard this._ But he continued._

'He will never walk, he will never talk, and right now, he can't even breathe on his own.'

_Mom and Dad grew even more sad. I just stared blankly at him. I refused to believe any word he said. If my little brother could live through choking out for air, then he would be able to overcome whatever got in his way! The next few months got rough for us all. When my little brother, in which Mom named him, Cloud, was only three months old, Dad died outside of Midgar from bandits. Mom was sad for awhile. I didn't blame her. I was sad too._

_But just a few days later, when we woke up, we realized that Cloud's breathing tube had come off during the night. She started to freak out, but then I pointed out that he was breathing on his own. He woke up just fine too. Mom held him for a long time. I got to as well after a lot of begging. I took him to my room and showed him around. His little blue eyes were darting around wildly, taking in this new surrounding. I showed him all my favorite stuffed animals, and since he took to one of them so much, I let him keep it. It was a little yellow chocobo. He had it in his little arms almost all the time._

_But otherwise, his breathing was good, but he still couldn't even sit up on his own yet, not even with help. I felt really bad for him. So whenever I could, I tried to teach him how to sit up. It took him a long time to get it down. He could first sit up on his own when he was six months old. For a normal child, they would usually be crawling around this age. But hey, He was my little brother, and I'd love him no matter what. Now Cloud was about ten months old, he just started to learn to crawl. Even though I though he was just dragging himself across the floor because he didn't really have that get go. Technically, he had to drag himself around. Once he learned to move around on his own, he followed me or Mom everwhere we went._

_He couldn't express any emotions. He hadn't gotten giggles or squeals down yet. He'd get there though. When he was a year and two months, he learned to show emotions, and now he could even crawl properly and stand up on his own for a few seconds. He was already defying what everyone else who ever encountered him ever said. He didn't learn anything new for a long time after that. He didn't learn how to talk until he was a little over two years old. He still hadn't gotten walking down yet. But there was one thing he could, and loved, to do._

Draw.

_He would scoot himself over to his spot in the living room, and draw on peices of paper taped to the walls, so he wouldn't color on the walls. I even helped him color too. He would get so upset if one of the crayons he was coloring with broke or ran out. He'd start crying until he'd either get a different color in his hand, or that same color was replaced with a newer crayon._

_You won't believe how many check-ups he had to have. He had to see three doctors a day in the beginning, then it was cut down to three a week. They kept saying he was a medical mystery, or kept trying to disagnose his condition. He never liked the needles, let's just say that much._

_When he was two and a half, he started to take an intrest in TV. He would watch some programs with me. Even if he really didn't understand them. When he got bored, he'd go right to coloring again. Drawing bunches of pictures that really made no sence. But to him, they were masterpeices. Well, now Cloud just turned three, about six days ago. We celebrated his birthday, just me and Mom. he enjoyed it greatly._

Well, enough of the past. Time to talk about the present now.


	2. Chapter 1

Wow, chapter two of Broken Crayons! :D I figured this one needed an update, so here it is! I decided this story would be better in Zack's POV, so, yeah. Well, I don't really have much to say up here except, enjoy! OuO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~XChapter:1X~

"Zack? Time to get up." Mom called from the doorway. I rolled over on my side to face the door.

"Do I have to?" I pleaded, trying to get an extra five minutes.

"Yes you do. Breakfast can't eat itself." She smirked.

My eyes happily widened as I jumped out from under the warm and tantalyzing covers, stuffed panther in my arms.

"Is Cloud up yet?" I asked, walking up to my mother in the hallway upstairs.

"I'm trying." Was her simple responce.

"I'll help!" I exlcaimed, hurridly running to my little brother's room.

I quietly opened the door. he was laying in his little bed, eyes closed. He was pressed up against one of the low rails on the sides of his bed so he wouldn't roll off in the middle of the night. That little chocobo plush in his little hands. I quickly ran up beside him.

"Clo-udy!" I sang next to him. His eyes fluttered open at the sound of my voice. He gave me a bright smile.

"Z'ck!" He shouted.

"Woah, quiet down buddy, inside voice, like mine, okay?" I asked polietly. He stared at me, before repeating my name, a little bit softer and quieter.

"Good Cloud." I praised, ruffling his hair up. Mom came into the room.

"Well, look whose finally up." She smiled, kissing him on the cheek. He giggled and hid his face behind the chocobo I had given him a few years ago.

"Is breakfast even ready yet?" I asked my mother.

"No. I was just saying that to get you out of bed." She grinned.

"You're evil!" I joked with a smile.

"Alright, why don't we go and get some breakfadt downstairs?" She smirked, helping Cloud out of his bed to sit on the floor.

She left the room and went down the stairs. Cloud scooted himself across the floor, trying to follow her.

"You know, you have to get walking down one of these days Cloud." I smirked as he looked up at me with inoocent and happy eyes. He pointed at me.

"Za'k!" He exclaimed again.

I pressed a finger to my lips and made my famous shush sound to him. He once again repeated my name more quietly. I decided to help Cloud up onto his feet. I held his hands to keep him steady. He looked at the distance between his body and the floor. He squealed, but I couldn't tell if it was happy or sad. Mom was much better at that than me.

"Hey, don't be scared, you've got to get this down." I smirked, taking a step back, in return, that made Cloud take a step forward.

"See?" I smiled. My stuffed panther was tucked under my arm still.

He looked up into my eyes, an unfamilier glisten I had never seen before was shimmering behind the blue. He took a step on his own without me having to walk as well.

"That's it! You can do it!" I cheered, gently dropping his hands as I took a few steps back. He gave me his famous pout and took very slow and shakey steps as he began to follow.

"Come on! I'm right here, you can do it!" I praised, seeing him finally walk on his own for the first time. He was able to wobble into my outstreached arms. I hoisted him up.

"You did it!" I exclaimed.

"Yah!" Cloud exclaimed back, just as loud. I was careful in going down the stairs with my little brother in my arms. Mom was in the kitchen.

"Mom! Mom! Guess What?" I exclaimed all in one loud breath.

"Woah, slow down there Zack, what's up?" She asked, turning away from buttering some bread.

"Cloud was walking on his own upstairs!" I happily shouted. Mom's eyes widened.

"h-He was?" She asked exited as she took a few quick strides over to us. I sat Cloud down from my grasp, and gently held him up.

"Do your trick for mommy." I smirked, dropping his hands and taking a few steps back.

As if he had been attatched to me with a rubber band, he wobbily took quick steps toward me and once again fell into my grasp. Mom sharply inhaled and took Cloud into her own arms.

"Oh good job Cloudy!" She happily smiled, tears about to brim in her eyes. He giggled and nuzzled his face into her neck.

"Guess that's another thing that all those doctors would never expect." I added on playing with my stuffed panther on the floor.

Cloud wriggled around in my mothers grasp until she put him down. He took small steps over to me and flopped himself down. he began to pet at the soft material of my panther.

"Do you want to play with him?" I asked, offering the stuftie to him.

I never let anyone else but my mom and Cloud even touch this panther. It was a gift from my grandmother when I was four, and she died shortly afterwards. He carefully took it from me, knowing how important it was to me, and he continued to pet it as he smiled.

"Pa'tr." Cloud spoke, trying to atempt the word 'Panther'.

"Yeah, that's a panther! Pan-Ther." I pronounced for him.

"Pan'ter." Cloud responded, looking back at me.

"Almost." I smirked, ruffling up his hair.

"Alright you two, breakfast!" Mom called from the kitchen as she was serving the food. I quickly jumped up to my feet.

"Alright!" I exclaimed.

I turned around and Cloud was whining at me, wanting help. I gently stood him up and dropped his hands. I made sure to take slower steps to the kitchen, as my brother took slow wobbily ones, almost falling over on occation. He made it to the kitchen and rested against his chair.

"Foo'time?" He innocently asked.

"Yup, it's time for breakfast!" I grinned, helping him up onto his chair.

I quickly sat myself down in my chair and licked my lips as my plate was placed before me. Eggs, bacon, and toast. I quickly began to devour mine, but I had to slow down because I remembered Cloud's copying patterns. Whatever I did, it would help him do the same thing. It was how he learned. If I was ever scolded for something, Cloud had enough common scence not to do it. He wasn't as stupid as other people said.

"Well, we better hurry and get ready. Cloud has another doctors appointment today twelve-thirty." Mom said.

I sighed. I never liked going there. The nurses couldn't give a shit, and the doctors seemed really cold and mean. The only nice person was the receptionist. That's saying something in a clinic if your receptionist is the nicest person. Plus, they never treated Cloud delicately enough. Always rough and seeming to be hostile. If I knew what I was doing, I'd be the one to give Cloud his check-ups and shots. But I didn't know anything about that. I wish even more that we could go to a different hospital. But we were hardly getting by as is. So, we'd have to deal with what was given. Even though I despized it. Well, whatever I guess.


	3. Chapter 2

Alright! Chapter two is out! :D Technically, chapter three if you count the prolouge, but if not, then 2! Sorry for my long break in this story, but I had writers block until today! Ahem, anyway, chapter two then? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~X[Chapter 2]X~

Cloud was squirming and fighting in his mother's grasp as she lead him upstairs to get changed. He wasn't stupid. He knew when he would be going to the doctors. He only left the house to get his check-ups. He never went anywhere else. I followed them upstairs and into his room. Cloud was pushing away from mother, trying to break free.

"I know you don't want to go, but you have to." She tried to explain as she laid him down on his bed. He kicked and squirmed as she had to tenderly hold him down. "Mom, what can I do?" I asked, looking up into her brown eyes.

"Could you get me some clothes from Cloud's dresser?" She asked, looking back at me for a moment before focusing her attention back to Cloud, whose kicks here now landing onto her sides.

"You stop that Cloud. You can't kick me." She scolded, holding his legs down.

He only started to scream as he cried. I pulled out a blue shirt with a duck on it, and black cargo pants from the drawer. I went back over to the bed and set the clothes down. Mom sat him up and took his shirt off, which was no easy task because he kept throwing himself down against the bed.

"No!" He screamed "No go!" He added on, just as loud.

He knew he had a check-up today. I spotted his favorite chocobo plush laying on the floor with a few of his other stuffed animals. I picked it up and shook it around in front of Cloud.

"Hey, Chocobo says to stop giving mommy a hard time or else!" I said through the guise of the chocobo.

Cloud stopped screaming and looked up me and the chocobo. He reached for the stuffed animal. I gave it to him. He stopped crying and kicking, allowing mom to finish changing him.

"Alright, we need to get going, otherwise we'll be late." She said, picking up the now calm Cloud.

"Oh, I need to get changed real quick!" I said, quickly dashing out of the room and into my own.

I changed into a black and dark grey shirt, with black shorts. When the task was finished, I ran back out of my room and ran down the stairs to see mom holding a calm Cloud in her arms, standing by the door.

"You ready now?" She asked with a small smile.

"Yup!" I responded, opening up to door for her and my brother. I closed it shut behind me and walked at an even pace next to my mom. We approached the small car, a Dodge Neon if I remember correctly.

"Zack? Could you put Cloud in his seat for me? I forgot something." She asked.

"Sure thing!" I responded as I took my little brother into my arms carefully.

My mom opened up the car door before running back into the house to get what she left behind. I carefully climbed into the backseat, and sat my brother in his carseat. His big blue eyes looked up at me. He hated the carseat. He started to whine as I buckled him into it.

"Hey, no whining mister. We have to do this so you'll be safe in the car in case we get into an accident." I said, trying to explain it as best as I could.

"No!" Cloud cried, beginning to kick his legs around. I leaned over and held them down.

"No kicking." I warned.

But he had much more strength than I though he did and was able to kick my arm away and cry out. I had to use both of my arms to keep him from kicking, but it just caused him to cry even harder and use his arms to slap the space around him.

"Cloud, you gotta stop." I told him, a firm expression behind my blue eyes.

When Cloud looked into my stern eyes, he stopped whining and kicking. He calmed down and sniffled. I wiped the tears from his eyes away.

"Good Cloud." I praised, gently blowing in his ear. He giggled loudly. He loved it when I did that.

Mom returned from the house with her wallet in hand. She walked up to the car and got in on the driver's side.

"Cloud didn't give you too much trouble today, did he?" She asked, facing me.

"Nope, just a bit fussy is all." I responded with a faint smile.

"Alright, you buckle up too." She said as she started the car.

I nodded and put my seatbelt on. The small tan car pulled out of the driveway and headed off to the clinic. Cloud watched the world pass by him as a big blur. He looked back at me.

"Draw?" He asked, putting his hands up to his face, trying to immitate my trademark pout.

I pulled back the middle seat, and the trunk of the car was exposed. Inside was a sketch pad and a pack of crayons. I pulled them out, then nudged the seat back into place.

"There you go. Thank you for asking me so nicely." I responded as I placed the requested items in his lap.

Cloud smiled, then flipped it open to a blank page, grabbing a red crayon and scribbling on the page, his little pink tounge sticking out in concintration as he worked. It made me giggle. he always got so inticed whenever he would draw. I looked out the window, my face resting in my hands as I watched trees blow by like the wind, the grass below just a big blur as I tried to focus my eyes on it, only to find it was already gone behind us.

"Z'ck!" Cloud shouted loudly to get my attention. I turned around to look at him. "Inside voice, remember?" I reminded.

Cloud blinked, then smiled as he held up the page of his sketch book he had ripped out. There was a big red spiral in the middle, with some blue filled in triangles on the side of the page. In the center of the spiral looked to be an attempted drawing of my stuffed panther.

"Oh wow, that looks so good Cloud!" I praised, leaning in closer to see the drawing.

"Give!" Cloud squealed, nudging the paper at me.

"Aw, are you giving me your drawing?" I asked as I took it. Cloud nodded and giggled happily.

"Thank you!" I smiled as I kissed his head.

"Tak'oo!" Cloud squealed again, trying to mimic the word 'Thank you'.

"Inside voice." I reminded him again.

"Tak'oo." He said again, more quiet and soft.

Before we knew it, we were already at the clinic. When Cloud saw the familier building, he started to whine and curl up into a ball. I didn't blame him. Even I didn't like this place. Mom shut off the car and stepped out. She walked to the other side and opened the right side door, the side Cloud was on.

"Alright, time to go." She said, unbuckling him from the seat. He only pressed himself into the seat further as she reached to pick him up.

"Come on, it'll be alright baby, I promise." She said as she picked him up and held him close.

I got out of the car as well and shut the door upon exiting. I ran around to the other side where my mother and brother were. Cloud was squirming, trying to peel himself away from mom so he could get away from this place.

"Calm down. It'll be okay. In and out." She said as she started to walk into the building. I followed by her side.

When we stepped into the clinic, Cloud immideatly burst out into tears. He looked down at me and held out his hands to me.

"Z'ck!" He wailed, thinking I would be able to take him away from the clinic. Tears spilled from his big blue eyes and dribbled down his cheeks like rain.

I cautiously took him from mom and held him close. He stopped wailing, but continued to sob and whine. We waited in the lobby for about five minutes until we were called to the back by a nurse with a bored tone of voice. I hated this place as much as Cloud did.

"Alright. While you are all here, we might as well get Zackary's check-up out of the way first." The nurse said to my mom. My eyes widened.

"I don't remember having a doctor's appointment!" I said to her.

"I...had one planned for you. If I told you, it would make Cloud even more upset about coming here. He knows how you act when it's your turn here." My mother explained.

We were led to our designated room, and mom took Cloud from my arms. He didn't like that and started to cry louder. I was asked to sit on the patient bed. I told the nurse I'd rather be trying to calm my brother down, but she said she wouldn't hear it, and ruthlessly started my check-up. She was rough with me and kept gripping my arms too tight. I didn't like it, and she was scaring me.  
Tears started to swell up in my eyes and I tried to blink them back, but to no avail and they slipped anyway. Cloud noticed and stopped crying. His expression changed into a firm scowl, the kind I would give him if he was in big trouble. he pointed at the nurse with his little eyebrows furrowed.

"Mean! Mean!" He cried with a big angry pout on his face.

He squirmed around in mother's grip, wanting to crawl over to her and teacher her a lesson. The nurse finished my exam, then rudely stated that the doctor would be in shortly. I looked at my right arm, it had a pink tint from where the nurse had grabbed me too tightly.

"Are you alright Zack?" Mom asked as she stood beside the bed. She kissed my head tenderly.

"She hurt me." I choked out, wiping away my tears. Cloud was sat down next to me, and he crawled into my lap. I looked at him, and he looked at me with a concerned expression.

"Z'ck? 'Kay?" Cloud asked, trying to say 'Zack, are you okay?'.

I nodded and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you for asking." I said with a soft smile.

Cloud giggled, seeing that he had cheered me up some and he felt victorious about it. The doctor came in. He was fat and bald, with light grey facial hair.

"Hello Mrs. Fair." He gruffly greeted.

He sat down on his little stool and looked at Cloud. The boy just stuck his tounge out at him and snuggled into my lap more. He shrugged and turned towards mom to ask her questions, like how is his health, is he crawling, how many words can he say, etc. Once the questions were answered, he turned towards us, and pulled Cloud out of my lap.

"So, you can walk, can you? Let's see it." He said, setting Cloud down on the floor roughly.

The blonde only growled and whimpered from the pain, and the way the doctor was treating him. He remained on the floor, unmoving. Refusing to do anything that the doctor, or even mom asked of him.

"If he keeps acting like this, I won't believe anything you tell me and I'll just assume that he's stupid and retarded." The doctor grunted out.

That got me pissed. I jumped up from the bed. I absolutely HATED it when they refered to my brother as a retard, it was very offencive to me.

"You shut up!" I growled, balling my hands into fists.

"Excuse me?" The doctor scoffed, looking over at me. "What did you just tell me to do?" He asked, his eyes angry.

"Zack please..." Mom begged.

"You don't say that word around my mom, my brother, or especially me!" I snarled, showing my teeth at him.

Cloud looked up at me with widened eyes. He had never seen me get so mad in front of him before, he figured it must be for a good reason.

"I'm only stating the facts. You little brother is retarded." The doctor repeated, just to spite me.

Then, I jumped at him, my teeth sinking into his arm in what felt like a vice grip. "Take it back!" I growled through his arm, not letting go.

"Christ! This whole family is fucked up! Let go brat!" The doctor cried.

I only bit into him even harder. Cloud squealed. I couldn't tell if it was happy, sad, or angry though.

"Zack! Let him go!" Mom shouted at me. I just sunk my teeth into him more. He was going to pay for what he said about my brother.

"Zackary Fair! You stop biting him this instant!" Mom shouted loudly, pulling me off him. Cloud flinched and started to cry from all the shouting and anger in the room.

"He deserves it! Lemmi at him!" I exclaimed, fighting around in mom's grip.

Mom just held me down until she could get me to stop squirming. Cloud whined, toddling over to mom shakily. He tugged at her long skirt.

"Put." Cloud said, telling mom to 'Put me down'. Mom set me down and I huffed out loudly.

"Have fun getting doctors appointments. You're no longer eligble to come here anymore." The doctor said before he stormed out of the room.

Mom loudly sighed. I knew she was angry with me, but I didn't care. Nobody calls my little brother a retard and gets away scott free!

"When we get back home, you are in serious trouble mister..." Mom finally said as she picked Cloud up.

She grabbed my hand with her free one and led us out of the clinic. I knew I was in for a world of hurt back home, but at least that man got what he deserved. Cloud only remained silent, his eyes downcast at me, never breaking eye contact from me. Perhaps it was his way of saying:

'What's going to happen now, Zack?'.


	4. Chapter 3

_Whoo! Chapter three is out! :D I figured this story could use an update, you probably all agree too, huh? Anyhow, you all ready? :)_  
_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~X[Chapter: 3]X~_

I knew I would be in for serious trouble when I got home, but I didn't expect getting four swats, sent to my room, being grounded, and not allowed to play with Cloud for a whole day. So I sat alone on my bed, staring out the window, and trying to ignore the seering pain from the swats I had received.  
I heard light thumping against my bedroom door. A small infantile voice let out a little whine and kept thumping against the wooden door. I heard my mother come up from downstairs and pause by my door.

"In." I heard my little brother say.

"Not today, big brother is in BIG trouble." Mom had told him as she picked him up. He began to whine louder, and he probably pointed at my door. "In, peas?" He asked, trying to say 'Let me in, please?'.

"No, Cloud. Not today." She said, a little firmer than the first time.

If anything, that was more punishment for him, not me. I remained seated on my bed, having a pretty good hunch about where this was going to end. I heard Cloud cry loudly, and babble nonsense and repeating the word 'In', over and over again. I heard his cries get faint when I realized mom was taking him downstairs. When I figured this out, I hopped off my bed and raced to my door.  
I opened it slowly and quietly, freezing at every little squeaky creak the door made. When it was open wide enough for me to slip out, I did so, and cautiously peaked my head downstairs.

Cloud was sitting on the floor whining and crying, while mom tried to explain why he couldn't see me today.

"You're brother did a no-no today, so I had to punish him so he would learn his lesson, okay?" Mom explained.

Cloud refused to listen and just looked away from her as he whined and cried. She exhaled loudly. I wanted to speak up and explain it to Cloud myself, because I knew he would understand better if I told him, but at the same time, I didn't want to be scolded for leaving my room.

"Do you want to draw? Will that make you feel better, baby?" Mom asked.

That was the first time I had ever seen my brother refuse to draw. I blinked once. He was even more upset that I was about my own punishment. Mom gave out a loud sigh and turned in the direction of the staircase. I had no time to hide, because she had already seen me.

"So, how much have you heard Zackary?" She asked.

I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. "All of it." I quietly, but honestly, replied.

"See if you can explain it to him okay? Then go back to your room." She decided, and I watched her stand up.

Wow, that was a first. Usually if I had tried to do this before, she would yell at me to get back to my room. Was she okay? She gave me a soft smile before turning into the kitchen to fix lunch. I hopped down the steps and made my way over to my brother, whom was still crying on the floor loudly.  
I sat down in front of him and ruffled his hair. He stopped crying and looked up, harboring the emotion of surprise. It was replaced with a bright and happy smile.

"Z'ck!" Cloud exclaimed loudly and he crawled into my lap.

I gave him a tight hug and smiled. "Inside voice, remember?" I asked. He blinked and smiled again at me, understanding my request.

"Okay, I can't talk for very long because I'm in trouble." I began.

"Z'ck n' tubble!" Cloud giggled, trying to say 'Zack is in trouble!'.

"You see, it was a bad thing to do for me to bite the doctor at the clinic, so I got put in a long time out. Because of that, I'm not allowed to play with you today." I explained as best as I could.

Cloud blinked, but then his eyes hardened and he became angry. He clamored off my lap and took wobbly steps over to his sketch pad and box of crayons. He ripped a blank sheet out of the pad and pulled out a black crayon, and he went to work on his angry drawing. I blinked. I had never seen Cloud all angry when he doodled before. It was kind of freaking me out a little bit.  
He looked truly aggravated, and cynical too. He started pulling out all kinds of colors, even some he had never used before. It was the first time I had ever seen him use red, orange, and yellow in the same picture before. What on earth was he drawing?

He pulled out a brown and filled in one of his black outlines. He grabbed a grey crayon and scribbled it all over the top of the white paper. When he was finished, his look of hate softened a bit, and was replaced what looked to be smug pride. He looked up at me and saw the look of shock, and a little bit of fright on my face.  
He slowly stood up and toddled his way over to me. He plopped down in front of me and showed me the drawing.

"Lo'k. Cloud said.

My face twisted in even more shock and fear.

In the picture was our old pediatrician, the one I had bit today, and he was on fire. Behind him looked to be a picture of a house, and that was on fire too. Dark grey smoke emanated from both the man and the house. And on bits and piece of the man, red blood and charcoal black flesh littered the ground below him.  
White was showing through his head, and it wasn't his hair. It was his skull. Green grass around his house was burned brown, and there were firefighters in the background, they were watching him. Laughing at him.

When I looked back up at Cloud. He still had that angry, yet victorious looking smile. This was probably the freakiest thing I had ever seen in my life.

"Mom! Mom! Look at what Cloud drew!" I cried out.

My brother still sat there, smiling like he was when he was drawing the picture. That eerie and creepy smile.  
"Mean' maan won' g't yoo in tubble noma'." Cloud said, his tone dead set and serious. He had said 'Mean man won't get you in trouble no more'.

That freaked the holy hell out of me. He had never looked or sounded so evil before. What happened to the sweet boy drawing flowers and animals?

"What is it Zack? Are you scared or something?" Mom asked with a soft chuckle.

She froze when she saw Cloud and the way he looked. She looked at me, and saw the horror on my face as I held up the drawing to her. She observed it, and her eyes widened as well.

"Cloud drew this?" She asked in shock, as she looked back at me. Her black hair falling in her face to mask her horrified bright blue eyes.

I only mutely nodded. She crouched down to our height and looked at Cloud.

"Baby, why did you draw this?" She asked, showing him the picture that he had drawn.

"So mean maan don' g't Z'ck in tubble noma'. Cn't g't in tubble iff mean maan dyz." Cloud told her, really trying to say 'So mean man won't get Zack in trouble no more. Can't get in trouble if mean man dies'.

Mom looked even more horrified than I did, and I was pretty sure I was scared to death. Cloud crawled himself into my lap and let out a little yawn. He looked up at me, and the hate from earlier had left his eyes. He looked like himself again. Sure, he was himself again, but that was a picture that couldn't go unseen.  
Especially the one in mom's hands. He let out another yawn and snuggled himself closer to me, he rested his head just below my left shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Evr'tng b btt'r 'morrow." He said sleepily. 'Everything will be better tomorrow'.

With that, he took a nap against me. I looked back up at mom, and she was staring in the picture, picking out every little detail. What had gotten into Cloud today? Maybe a good night's sleep would make everything alright...

~X[-0-0- VII -0-0-]X~

Saturday morning. Last night's sleep had really made me feel better, and forget most of yesterday's freaky events. I stretched and let out a loud sleepy yawn. I glanced over to read the time on the clock. It was a few minutes til nine thirty in the morning.  
My favorite cartoon show should be on in a couple of minutes, and I didn't want to miss it. I threw the covers off of me and ran to my door, I opened it up and hopped outside, thankful that I was no longer in trouble as of today.  
I looked across the hall to Cloud's room. His door was cracked, so I decided to peek my head in. He appeared to still be sleeping.

I tip-toed my way into his room quietly and peered over his bed. I rested my hands on the rails and smiled. He was still sleeping away. I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. He stirred slightly and let out a sleepy little giggle as his eyes opened.

"Sorry I woke you Cloudy. Go back to sleep." I said to him, tucking him under the covers a little tighter.

"No!" Cloud exclaimed with a smile as he kicked the covers off.

It made me giggle a little bit, so I picked him up and held him in my arms.

"Well, did you sleep good?" I asked him.

He laughed in response. So I took it as a yes and carried him down the stairs. I figured he might want to come down and watch cartoons with me. When arriving in the living room, I set Cloud down on the couch and went up to the TV. I turned it on and went to channel four, where the show Mog the Moogle was just starting.

"Yay!" Cloud exclaimed as he clapped his hands and kicked his legs up and down quickly.

I sat down next to him and he crawled into my lap and hunkered down with a big smile on his face. We got no more than ten minutes into the show until an emergency news broadcast cut into the program. I groaned.  
I didn't want to watch the stupid news, but I was too lazy to remove my brother from my lap to get up and change the channel. But then the title of the broadcast made my eyes widen. The newscastor began to tell the story,

"A freak house fire? That's right. No one knows how it happened, but police are investigating a robbery gone wrong. There was no signs of struggle, but something had to have gone wrong.  
58-year-old Truman Tucker was killed in this tragic house fire last night at eleven fifty-nine P.M., The firefighters arrived on the scene, but they had just came back from getting slammed at the local bar.

So while the poor man was running around on fire with his house burning down, the firefighters laughed at him and watched as the flames ate him alive. The corpse was found in the front yard early this morning, and signs of third degree burns were present. His skin had slid off and bits and pieces of bone were showing. We now turn you live to our..."

I tuned out the rest because I was so frightened. What Cloud had drawn, actually happened! This was all kinds of freaky.

When I looked down to check on him, he was smiling widely, and that horrible freaky look returned in his eyes...


End file.
